


Christmas to Them

by AsagaoSylph



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Celebrations, Christmas Decorations, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Party, Christmas Tree, Except all space versions, Fluff, Joyful, Love, M/M, Memories, Songfic, Team as Family, Traditions, because Lance, new tradition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:40:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21951604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagaoSylph/pseuds/AsagaoSylph
Summary: “I’ll talk to La—”“That will not be necessary,” interrupted Allura warmly, a smile settled comfortably on her lips. “Lance cleared his absence with me this morning; he needed some time for…individual work!”
Relationships: Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Allura & Lance (Voltron), Coran & Lance (Voltron), Hunk & Lance (Voltron), Keith & Lance (Voltron), Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt, Lance & Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 34





	Christmas to Them

“And that is all for today’s debriefing!” Exclaimed Allura, clapping her hands together with a satisfied beam.

It was not a look shared by the rest of her comrades. Keith was slumped forwards over his knees in an exhausted lump, Pidge was flopped over the back of the couch, and Hunk had fallen facedown and unmoving on the cushions. Even Shiro was listing to the side, his soul leaking from his mouth just a little. Allura smiled all the wider. “I would say our training has been a great success, well done!”

“Yeah, for everyone who showed up!” Grumbled Pidge as she dragged herself upright, adjusting her glasses crossly. “I swear, I haven’t even seen Lance all day!”

“Seriously, where the heck is Lance?!” Agreed Keith, though it came out as more of a snarl than anything else.

Shiro sighed, reluctantly swallowing his soul back into his body, and sat (fell) forwards. He wanted to cut Lance a break, he really did, but the paladin couldn’t just skip training for a whole day. Shiro was the leader, and sometimes that meant he had to ask his team to do difficult things. He didn’t like scolding them, but he couldn’t just let Lance take a day off without warning. Honestly, carefree as the Blue Paladin could appear, it was pretty weird that he hadn’t even asked Shiro before pulling this. He was usually really careful about forewarning either Allura or Shiro, but everyone messed up. They just couldn’t do that about break time.

“I’ll talk to La—”

“That will not be necessary,” interrupted Allura warmly, a smile settled comfortably on her lips. “Lance cleared his absence with me this morning; he needed some time for…individual work!”

“Individual work?” Chorused Keith and Pidge, the former scowling and the latter’s eyebrows creeping up.

Sure, Lance worked hard and all that, but he wasn’t really someone who liked doing stuff solo. The Cuban loved team training, especially mind melds, and was always the first to volunteer for sparring or helping someone else with whatever they were working on. He didn’t like being alone; it felt foreign after growing up in a constantly bustling home overflowing with chatter. For him to choose to go off on his own instead of train with the team………had they messed up somehow?

“Have we been too harsh on him lately?” Asked Pidge, glancing at the others to see if they could think of any definitive moment they should make amends for. “Did anyone say something?”

Hunk was frowning, a hand on his chin, and eyes narrowing fiercely like they always did when it came to his best friend. Keith was gripping his knee tightly, scowling as if someone had just stepped on his hand, and Shiro’s gaze on the floor became sad, confused, determined, and loving all at once. If they had done something severe enough to make Lance, their flirty, attentive, loyal, kind, and brave goofball, retreat from the world, they should be able to remember it….

Allura blinked at them.

Then her eyes widened and she let out a short, sharp laugh not even remotely hidden by the hand she raised. All heads in the room snapped towards her, and Allura held up her hands placatingly even as she kept laughing, though she met each paladin’s gaze individually as she spoke.

“I do believe there is some mistake here. Lance is not in distress.”

“But why else would he hide from us?” Cried Hunk, standing as if to run from the room to wherever his friend might be, but Allura just smiled awkwardly.

“I cannot tell you that,” she admitted, clasping her hands behind her back and glancing at the door briefly, “but I can assure you he is not the slightest bit mad at any of you.”

“Then where is he?!” Complained Keith, and Pidge nodded so fiercely her glasses nearly flew off.

“Just be patient. He shall call you all before the day is over,” replied Allura fondly, glancing over her shoulder with a sunny smile as she turned to go. “You need not worry about a thing. Just leave this one to Lance.”

Keith was _never_ leaving _anything_ to Lance again! Of course the stupid sharpshooter had left everything to the last tick and, just as they all finished eating dinner and were thinking about turning in for the night, fired up the intercom.

“Hey guys!” The crackle had alerted them all to the system turning on, but Lance’s voice was loud enough that Hunk shrieked and flung his spoon over his shoulder by accident.

Pidge looked about four ticks away from dying of laughter, if the small girl hanging off her chair was any indication, and Shiro was failing horribly at hiding his own chuckles. Lance cackled evilly. “Sorry you all had to be deprived of your handsome sharpshooter for a quintant, but believe me, this will absolutely be worth it!”

There was the faint sound of something tearing and a muttered complaint, but then Lance’s cheer was back at full throttle. “Come on down to the main hall! You’ll like what you see!”

“Lance, if you put another giant inflatable duck in this ship, I swear—!”

“Awwwwww, you know it was funny, Pidgey! But no, not this time! Come down, I swear you’ll like this! Just ask Allura!”

“You will like it,” stated Allura before any of them could so much as turn to her, the smile spreading up into her eyes. “You will all definitely like this.”

There was a short pause.

“Well,” said Keith, rising and cracking his neck quite audibly, smirking at the others. “YOLO.”

And with that, he strode from the room, leaving Pidge with glasses slipping from her face and Hunk’s jaw colliding loudly with the floor. Since when did he know slang?!

“Yeah, exactly, you only…….NOW HOLD ON A TICK!” Came Lance’s indignant shout over the intercom, and Keith cackled, dashing towards the door with the other paladins barely a step behind him.

Allura just smiled, and strode back towards the bridge, shoulders rising in a hard line. She had a ship to attend, and Lance had said this was a traditional Earth custom, so Allura doubted it would be a good idea for her to join the—

“Allura, Coran, don’t be late!” Called Lance over the intercom then, casual as if sure the two Alteans would attend; as if it were a given that they were invited. “You’re gonna love this!”

Scratch that, Keith should leave a lot more things to Lance if they were always going to look like this.

Garlands of red and green felt lined the walls, dancing in intricate patterns over the stone and pulsing a soft white light. Candles that emitted just the faintest sparkle floated on the plates used for a large company, now polished to reveal ornate gold underneath, glowing along with the flickering flame above. Balls painted a shimmering white, gold, red, blue, green, black, and pink surrounded the candles, reflecting their soft light, and each carrying some sort of warm, gentle scent. Cinnamon, hot chocolate, nutmeg, vanilla, baking cookies, cardamom, all blended together in a gentle wave of comfort.

A large, fluffy rug was spread out over the ground, the pale yellow softened by the chandelier above, which was decked out with a thick wreath of blue flowers from the last planet they had liberated. A woven metal box rested just off the rug, supporting a large silver plate that held wide logs, ripped scraps of paper, and a warm, blazing fire flickering all imaginable colors and a few no one could even name. Seven stockings rested before it, each a different color, with names and symbols embroidered on the thick fabric. A snowman for Hunk, a candy cane for Keith, snowflake for Pidge, and a star for Lance. Shiro’s bore a jolly Santa Claus, Allura’s showed a mug of steaming hot chocolate, and Coran’s reindeer pranced all over the orange material.

Finally, behind the rug, stood a huge tree. It was bright gold, with spikes jutting out that had clearly just been clipped, and deep red flowers adorning the thick, spiralling branches. It curved around itself, forming intricate, strange patterns, and reflecting the colored, origami lights. Ornaments decked each branch; sewn snowflakes, angels, and pine trees alongside hand-drawn elves, penguins, and hippos while baked, scarily colored snowwomen, stars, and candy canes swung slightly, as if just placed. There were five plushie lions climbing the tree, and at the very top sat an oddly adorable Voltron, legs dangling off the golden top and slight smile on its mouth. The Castle of Lions perched just below it, covered in white fluff resembling snow, and presents lay wrapped beneath the shining branches, bows and bright paper almost as beautiful as the rest of the room.

Lance beamed from the rug, greeting them all with a wave from his mittened hands, and glancing over his shoulder with a satisfied smile.

“Hope you all have ugly sweaters!” He joked, twirling to his feet and barely catching his Santa hat as it tried to fall off.

His eyes softened though, as he took in the shocked expressions of his space family. He knew they wouldn’t keep an eye on the Earth calendar that well. “Merry Christmas, everyone!”

“Is it…actually…….I mean, back on…?” Whispered Hunk, and Lance beamed.

“You bet it is, big guy!”

Lance chuckled as the others continued to stare at him, and tossed Santa hats to them as well, including Allura and Coran. Those two caught theirs with some confusion, which made Lance laugh again, but Shiro’s frown instantly sobered his delight.

“What is it, Shiro?” He asked, somewhat hesitantly, and Keith stopped adjusting his hat long enough to glance at his brother with concern.

Shiro sighed, that quiet sound he made whenever he wasn’t surprised or disappointed, but slightly sad, and stepped forward.

“It’s not cold enough for mittens, Lance.”

Lance stiffened, throwing a wide smile onto his face and placing his hands on his hips as he puffed out his chest.

“Just getting into the Christmas spirit, Shiro! I have a scarf for you, if you want it, you know!”

Keith strode forwards and snatched Lance’s wrist, yanking it off his hip and jerking off the mitten in one swift motion. Lance gulped. Keith was having absolutely none of that, apparently.

“Lance, what happened?” Demanded Keith, staring at the white bandages wrapped around the dark-brown palm and fingers, thin pink trails of Altean healing minerals winding along the fabric with the faintest hum.

Lance bit his lip, but Shiro just shook his head with a fond, tired sigh as he stared at the tree.

“The branches on that are really sharp, and they’ve got plenty of spikes that are even nastier. You can’t clip and decorate a tree like that without getting at least a dozen cuts.”

Lance gave a guilty laugh, shrugging and removing his other mitten to display a similar state.

“They were the best we had, you know?” He said with a chuckle, regarding his hands without regret. “Plus…it’s really beautiful.”

“But–but you–you,” stuttered Keith, fumbling for a few seconds before giving up entirely and blurting out it out. “Why did you do all this?! Your hands….”

Lance smiled then, sweet and slow, squeezing Keith’s hands gently.

“The fireplace is burning bright, shining all on me,” he sang, eyes darting to the makeshift fire he had built that morning, and the softness of his irises forestalled any further questions.

“I see the presents underneath the good old Christmas tree,

And I wait all night till Santa comes to wake me from my dreams.

Oh, why?”

Lance looked directly at Keith now, and his summery grin came back full force, curving up his sun-kissed skin and stretching up into his glowing eyes.

‘‘Cause that’s Christmas to me.”

Keith drew in a sharp breath, images dancing before his eyes. His father waking up grudgingly as he was tackled awake, and letting himself be dragged downstairs so little Keith could attack his stocking at six in the morning. Adam blasting Christmas music in the house even though he was Muslim, and making some of the best holiday cookies Keith could even imagine. Shiro ruffling Keith’s hair and shoving a present into his hands from under the sparkling tree, saying of course they got him something; he was their family after all, and it was Christmas. It was their Christmas.

“I see the children play outside, like angels in the snow,

While our parents share a kiss under the mistletoe.”

A long-standing tradition for Hunk’s moms, and Lance met his best friend’s eyes as he changed the lyrics ever so slightly. It brought tears to the Samoan’s eyes. The golden warmth of his moms’ hugs seemed to wash over him again, and for a second he was back home, where they all had candy cane wars, roasted marshmallows over open fires, and drank hot apple cider so fast they burned their tongues. Then they’d laugh and blow kisses to each other and wrap one another in big hugs because it was always too cold outside. They spent their Christmas bundled up together and complaining if they had to get up.

“And we’ll cherish all these simple things wherever we may be,” sang Lance, just slightly fierce this time, and a smile curled up Pidge’s face. “Oh, why? ‘Cause that’s Christmas to me.”

Pidge had always been woken up by Matt trying to sneak presents into her room at midnight, but she lay still and pretended to be asleep as he slid it onto her desk and crept out. She knew it made him feel like a sneaky, clever Santa. And, inevitably, whatever he put there would be her favorite gift. He would find her return present perched on his pillow when he woke up, and they would always race each other down the stairs to see who would get to open the first present that year. Their parents would fall asleep on the couch as they tore apart the wrapping, though they would be woken up constantly by shrieks of joy, demands for hot chocolate, and prodding for them to open their presents too!

“I’ve got this Christmas song in my heart,” sang Pidge, making Lance jump, whipping around to stare at the Green Paladin.

“I’ve got the candles glowing in the dark,” joined in Hunk, wobbly as he wiped away his tears, his deeper voice harmonizing sweetly with his Garrison comrades as they beamed at him.

“I’m hanging all the stockings by the Christmas tree,” the three sang as they gathered together, Pidge hovering near enough for Lance to muss her hair, and Hunk throwing an arm over their Blue Paladin’s shoulders.

“Oh, why? ‘Cause that’s Christmas to me.

Oh, why? ‘Cause that’s Christmas to me.”

Shiro could clearly see the fried chicken and the white sponge cake his mother ordered every Christmas without fail; she would always let him eat the candy decorations at the top. Then they would make their own mochi, exchange presents, and admire the lights around town. When he moved in with Adam, they always got a tiny Christmas tree for the table and decorated it with the stupidest stuff they could find, and they would turn holiday music up on blast and try to out-shout the other. Then they’d curl up in front of the fire, hot chocolate in hands, and exchange presents and sweet, sleepy kisses. And when Keith joined the family, their cuddle pile just got bigger, and the kisses commenced after the boy had fallen asleep between the two.

“I listen for the thud of reindeer walking on the roof,” he sang before any of them could take the next line, and the three teens hummed cheerfully in the background as he approached to join them. “As I fall asleep to lullabies, the morning’s coming soon.”

Shiro was intending to stand behind the three, patting Hunk’s shoulder as he went around them, but Pidge apparently thought otherwise. The short paladin caught his wrist and yanked him to the front between her and Lance so he could rest both hands on their shoulders, drawing warm smiles from the two paladins. And he looked directly at Keith, smile shining with love, on the next line as the rest of the group joined him in song again.

“The only gift I’ll ever need is the joy of family.

Oh, why? ‘Cause that’s Christmas to me.”

Lance’s family celebrated Nochebuena more than Christmas; pictures of the family were proudly displayed everywhere, and every single member came, no matter how distantly related. The house would be filled with tamales, roasted pork, rice, beans, salads, croquettes, alcohol, flan, and whatever else his relatives saw fit to add to the counter. Veronica would demolish them all in dominos, Marco would get way too into telling some exciting story about his school year and knock something over, Luis would start them all on karaoke even though he sounded like a strangled goose, and Rachel would get all the gossip to share with Lance and her mom later. Lance would bounce around with his nieces, nephews, cousins, and the younger kids, teasing them into trying new foods, letting them beat him in arm wrestling, and singing them to sleep at the end of the night so their parents could take them home without a fuss.

“I’ve got this Christmas song in my heart,” suddenly sang Keith, his voice soft and low, like melted chocolate and soft winter fires, and warm hands reaching out to cup Lance’s. “I’ve got the candles glowing in the dark.”

He pressed his forehead against Lance’s for a second as their family sang, then accepted Shiro moving his hand to Keith’s shoulder as the dark-haired teen took his place beside Lance, hand snugly ensconced in Lance’s soft grip.

“I’m hanging all the stockings by the Christmas tree,

Oh, why? ‘Cause that’s Christmas to me.

Oh, why? ‘Cause that’s Christmas to me.”

Hunk and Pidge glanced at one another with simultaneous smirks then and, as they all hummed the next few verses, stepped forwards just a bit.

Pidge’s fingers found Allura’s sleeve, and Hunk’s wrapped around Coran’s shoulder, pulling the two Alteans into their circle. 

“Oh, all the joy that fills our hearts and makes us see

Oh, why? ‘Cause that’s Christmas to me.”

This Christmas, they stood in a hall of entirely handmade decorations. They celebrated with a spiky, curved, golden Christmas tree, a dinner of refined food goo, floating scented candles, wreaths of blue flowers on chandeliers, and a multicolored indoor fire. Little stuffed lions climbed their tree that were miniatures of the ones they flew through space with, and they sang their own carols acapella style. They sang them with arms tight around one another, holding two aliens with confused but fond smiles stretching across their faces, and love blooming in their hearts.

“I’ve got this Christmas song in my heart.

I’ve got the candles glowing in the dark.

And then for years to come we’ll always know one thing.

That’s the love that Christmas can bring.

Oh, why? ‘Cause that’s Christmas to me.”

It was weird as heck. Obviously. Because it was _their_ Christmas. None of them would have it any other way.

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas to all those celebrating!
> 
> I own nothing!  
> My tumblr is at https://asagaosylph.tumblr.com/ :D


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